Two Lorain police officers under investigation

LORAIN -- Two Lorain police officers are under scrutiny by the department for undisclosed reasons and one of them, Sgt. Jeffrey Jackson, was placed on administrative leave June 20.

Jackson was placed on leave pending an investigation, according to city records and Safety-Service Director R. Michael Fowler. The leave is "in direct relation to a current administrative investigation being conducted by the Office of Professional Standards," said a notice by Police Chief Cel Rivera.

Fowler and Lorain Fraternal Order of Police President Kyle Gelenius declined to discuss details of the investigations while the cases are pending.

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Both officers have been on the force since the early 1990s.

Jackson was hired in 1990 and was promoted to sergeant in October 2004, according to city records. In January 2011, Jackson was reassigned from patrol operations to the police department's support services division.

According to records, in October 2010, Jackson was given a letter of reprimand for taking too much sick time off and not having enough time accumulated from January to September of that year.

In January 2011, Jackson was issued a three-day suspension for taking sick time without having enough sick time accumulated.

The suspension was held in abeyance if Jackson submitted a doctor's slip for any necessary time off and did not take time off if he had not accumulated sufficient time, according to a ruling by Lorain police Capt. Russ Cambarare, Steven Schmittle and James McCann.

At the time Jackson's attorney said he took the time off due to health concerns.

Police records showed Jackson also was recommended for a merit report for not taking any sick hours in 2011.

Gonzalez was hired and completed his one-year probationary period in 1993. He worked for several years as youth detective and gang coordinator and in January 2010 was reassigned from the criminal investigations bureau to patrol operations.

His personnel file showed Gonzalez became the victim of a crime when his home was burglarized in October 2008.

Someone stole Gonzalez' department-issued Glock 30 duty weapon and three bottles of liquor, according to a report filed with the Lorain County Sheriff's Office.

In March 2011, Gonzalez' home caught fire and two department-issued Glock handguns were destroyed, along with his other duty gear including badge, bulletproof vest, flashlight and charger, stun gun, portable radio and a camera.

Gonzalez reimbursed the police department $2,258 for the equipment, according to his personnel file.

Both officers had strong performance evaluations, according to their personnel files. Between the two of them they have more than four dozen merit reports from supervisors or letters of commendation from the public.

Gonzalez' most recent merit report was from Feb. 27 when he responded to a loud disturbance at a Henderson Drive bar, said the merit report by Lt. Roger Watkins.

Gonzalez found a man with a gun chasing another man and without waiting for more officers, Gonzalez confronted and disarmed the man.

"Officer Gonzalez showed great courage going into a disorderly crowd of people after receiving information that a male had a firearm," the merit report said. "Officer Gonzalez showed true professionalism and restraint when confronting an armed suspect who, after being ordered to drop his weapon, merely tucked the weapon in his pants.

Jackson received a merit report for incidents in January 2010 for officers' rapid response to two robberies in one night on Oberlin Avenue. Police responded so quickly they recovered an "unopened cash drawer," a mask, money and a telephone dropped by a suspect.

Later that night, Jackson also found and arrested one of the suspects, the merit report stated.